How to Write 毁 (huǐ) — Meaning “To destroy; to ruin; to damage.”

Imagine a stone mortar (臼) being smashed by a weapon (殳) — the scene of destruction helps you recall that 毁 means "to destroy." This visual of breaking an object by force ties directly to the character's components.

The left part 臼 must have a gap in the middle — do not close it like the character 曰 (sun). The right part 殳 ends with a short stroke that flicks to the right, not a full downward hook. Also write the top horizontal of 臼 shorter than the bottom one.

The key difference is the left side: 毁 has 臼 (mortar), while 殸 has 声 (sound) and 殹 has 医 (medicine). Only 毁 carries the meaning of destroying or damaging; the other two are rare characters with different meanings (殸 refers to a musical stone, and 殹 is an ancient verb meaning to strike).

毁 is common in words like 毁坏 (to damage) and 烧毁 (to burn down). It can also describe breaking promises in 毁约, which carries a strong sense of betrayal in both daily life and business contexts.

Common words containing 毁 include: 毁坏 (huǐ huài) — To damage; to destroy.; 烧毁 (shāo huǐ) — To burn down or destroy by fire; 毁约 (huǐ yuē) — To break a promise; to breach a contract..